Hi,
I have a question:
I have to mitigate the reason why trips outside the US were answered No on the sf-86.
The sf-86 submitted was done on September 3 2015.
I requested a copy of my previous clearance sf-86 which upon review was blank. I then requested my former FSO to download my previous sf-86 and I again was handed a blank sf-86. At that time I had to begin the sf-86 from scratch using my resumes as a guide for entries.
I requested an answer as to why my previous sf-86 was blank through the FSO and the answer was due to the OPM breach the records were locked as OPM was reviewing their security measures since the incident.
OPM revealed the breach to the public on September 15 2015, days after I submitted my sf-86.
I rebutted an SOR stating the circumstances and even acknowledged responsibility for having not answered the travel question ‘yes.’ In the rebuttal I made reference to the
Why I couldn’t answer yes, being specifically the trips were 5 years ago and spread across a few years earlier with no way to cross verify the previous info as well as I genuinely couldn’t remember all trips. Searches on email didn’t result in definitive answers since anything I searched for came up in pieces, pieces I couldn’t confirm as being actual trips I took. Email from work address’s were not available to which most of the trips were recorded on since having moved to stateside positions from overseas positions. In all honesty I felt i could not answer that question factually enough to declare my findings.
With a hearing scheduled in the future my question is simply would a judge consider this information to mitigate the issue.
My understanding is if an issue is unique it may qualify as a mitigating factor.
My concern is mostly based around whether or not the judge will simply state I didn’t do enough to answer that question accurately, or even partially by saying Yes. If I could never really review my previous SF-86 to verify the info then it stands to reason that anything placed under the trips may still not have been accurate enough to avert any SOR.
The situation is difficult especially since for years I served overseas to which most of these trips were listed previously.
Any advice would be appreciative, thank you for reading